


Long Night in the Cube

by sonictrowel



Series: Long Night in the Blue House [61]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family Feels, Romance, Twelve gets his sass back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 13:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11358615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonictrowel/pseuds/sonictrowel
Summary: Things weren’t all that different on the inside with the TARDIS being a great metal cube.  There just weren’t windows anymore, but that meant River didn’t have to see the creeping glow in the sky, and that was a blessing.





	Long Night in the Cube

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again friends! It's been a slow week re:views round here, so if you're following along make sure you've caught up on the previous chapters so you don't get spoiled! There is a slight method to the nonlinear timey-wiminess of these installments, I swear. And thank you all so so much for reading!

[Darillium]

The hardest part had been talking to Athena about it.

Because they weren’t at all sure how to explain it, how to prepare her without upsetting her sooner than was absolutely necessary, or what even to tell her to expect.  They weren’t even totally sure it was at the end of tonight that all three of them parted ways, or what would be the final straw that told them it had to be _now_ , that they couldn’t hang on to each other a moment longer without putting her in danger. 

They talked to Nardole about it, and he tearfully agreed to take Athena to Manhattan.  They’d all leave together in the TARDIS, and the Doctor would bring River to Luna and Nardole and Athena to America in 1938, where they could make their way by car into the safety of the time distortion.  He had some ideas about rigging a device to cover their tracks so they couldn’t be traced on their journey, and once there, it would be impossible to detect them through all the heavy scar tissue in time.

River watched the Doctor’s face as they laid out their plans, as matter-of-factly as they could.  He was pale, and looked older than he’d ever seemed before.  She knew he was fighting with everything in him not to fixate on the horror of the moment when he’d close the TARDIS door and be alone in the quiet.

She knew, because she was picturing the same, stepping into her empty flat on Luna.

How they were going to manage to do it without a gun to their heads was still the real mystery. 

What they told Athena, in the end, was that she would need to be brave and strong, because there were some very misguided, very scared people out there, and that was a dangerous combination.  They told her they would keep her safe, no matter what, but to do that they would have to be apart for a while.  They told her all about Amy and Rory and how much she would love them and how much they would love her, and how she really had a lot to look forward to.  How they would take care of her and how lucky it was that they would be able to be together. 

Athena sniffled, her eyes swimming with tears.  “Can’t you come too?  Can’t we all go to see Gran and Grandad together?”

River swallowed back a sob.  “I wish we could, sweetie,” she said, smiling as much as she was able.  “But your Daddy and I have already been there, when time got all knotted up.  It’s very fragile now, and that’s what makes it safe for you— no one else can follow, it won’t support any more time travellers.  But we’re already too tangled up in it.  If we come back, even taking the long way round, we’ll be pulling on those threads, and it could all come apart.  It would be dangerous for everyone.” 

She was an incredibly clever girl, but River wasn't sure how much of it sank in.  It barely even made sense to  _her_.

“But,” Athena whimpered, looking back and forth between them, “I don’t want to go.” 

The Doctor’s face twitched, his brows furrowed and lips pressed into a line, as he pulled her into his arms and blinked up at the ceiling.

“I know, kitten,” he whispered gruffly.  “I’m so sorry.” 

___

The Doctor started leaving them both messages.  River noticed it first when they were lying in bed after putting Athena to sleep.  He took her face in his hands, kissing her forehead while she felt him reaching into her mind.

“Don’t peek,” he muttered.  “That’s for later.”

She sniffed and nodded, flooded for a moment with bittersweet joy at the thought of hearing from him again, in whatever form. 

“I never learned how to do that,” she whispered.  “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry.  I get something even better.  This is the least I can do.”

“Oh, right.  The dreams.” 

“Besides,” he grumbled fondly, “don’t want you forgetting about _old_ me when you’re running about with your ‘dishy’ young favourites.” 

In spite of it all, River felt a smile tugging at her lips.  “Now, darling, you know perfectly well I don’t have favourites.  I love you; that’s all.”

He kissed her forehead again. 

“But… who are we talking here?  The Fop?”

“You see, you _say_ no favourites, but then you jumped straight to him.”

“Such a pity he can't remember me; I'd have plans for him.  That  _voice._   He could just ring me up and that would do the trick,” River purred.  Any moment of levity was a desperately needed respite, so she took every chance to tease him.  “Though mind you, the face is quite nice too.”

“I am right here, you know.”

“I’m _talking_ about you, you muppet.”

He kissed her temple and she felt the psychic flutter of another precious little secret being planted in her mind. 

“I suppose I’ll be seeing more of Pretty Boy as well,” she mused. 

The Doctor swallowed and his voice cracked a little when he said “Yeah.”  He paused for a moment.  “He’s a prick.  Sorry.”

River exhaled shortly in amusement and snuggled in closer.  For a few minutes they held each other in silence. 

“You know you’re my favourite, right?”

“Thought you didn’t have any,” the Doctor replied, his voice low and warm. 

“I don’t.   _You’re_ all of you.  All the others are missing bits.”

He made a pleased little hum.  “But that means I’m only your favourite til another one comes along.”

“Well,” she kissed his cheek and stroked his hair.  “That’ll be something to look forward to, won’t it?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, hugging her tighter.  “It will.”

___

Things weren’t all that different on the inside with the TARDIS being a great metal cube.  There just weren’t windows anymore, but that meant River didn’t have to see the creeping glow in the sky, and that was a blessing.  Athena couldn’t go out to play in the snow, but she was such a good girl.  She understood it was serious and didn’t complain.  River had to stop herself very frequently from letting Athena see her a total mess.  Her daughter was so brave, already.  She had to be too. 

It wasn’t exactly easy to muster any Christmas spirit, but it was going to be their last with Athena for who knew how long, so they didn’t dare waste it.  They had a minimal level of power running with the engines off, but they put up the tree and traded sunlamps for fairy lights and the glow of the hearth, and played carols throughout the house.  Nardole, bless him, did his best to keep spirits high when she and the Doctor were struggling.  He talked the Doctor into diverting some of the power from life support systems in the little-used TARDIS back rooms to the ovens, so he could bake his Christmas cake and gingerbread men to decorate with Athena.

River tried so hard to hold on to every precious moment, to imprint them perfectly into her mind so she could still feel them in the lonely years to come.  The scent of cinnamon and ginger in the air, the fairy lights blurring into beads of gold, forming a corona around Athena’s hair and reflecting in the Doctor’s bright eyes and on Nardole’s shiny head as they watched her dab icing onto a biscuit.  

The deep contentment and warmth she felt with her husband and daughter tangled up with her on the sofa, just holding each other, listening to the fire crackle and spit.  There was nothing else like this in the universe, she was certain.  Everything she’d never dared to acknowledge, even to herself, that she so desperately hoped for.  She couldn’t waste her time cursing the universe for taking it away when she needed to be cherishing every second of it while it lasted.

___

They had two days to go when Gallifrey called.

The Doctor took the call in the control room, pacing about while River listened from the jump seat.

“Doctor,” a solemn woman’s voice stated in greeting. 

“And to whom do I have the displeasure of speaking?” he snapped.  “You know, you lot could have rang me in the first place.  I’ve had to shut the lights off because your damn dinner bells were giving me a migraine.”

“You know me as the General.” 

“Yes, and which general is that?” he grumbled impatiently.

There was a hint of amusement in her voice.  “I suppose that was your first time being on the other side of that exchange.”

The Doctor stopped his pacing, glued to the spot.

“Oh.   _The_ General.  I’d— nearly forgotten, you’re…  Yes.  Well.”

“These days I’m known as Madam President, as the office was abruptly left vacant, and no Council members remained to fill the position.”

“Congratulations,” he muttered roughly.  “Look, I, I know it’s not worth much, but… I’m sorry.  I— wasn’t myself.  I was out of control.  Obviously.”  His eyes were wrenched shut, his mouth contorted into a grimace as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes, Doctor, you were.  And that is the reason I’m calling. The Matrix did not cease to predict the coming of the Hybrid when you left, and all instances of the prophecy intersect with your personal timeline.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“We’ve seen the destruction you’re willing to cause in order to save someone you love.  The Possibility Engine concurs: the destruction of Gallifrey will come about through someone intimately connected to the Doctor.  We don’t know if they will destroy Gallifrey, or if you will destroy it for their sake.  But surely you understand, that can’t be allowed to happen.  After all you’ve done to save our planet.”

“Cool story.  What you going to do, lock me up so I can’t make any friends?  In case you haven’t noticed, I tend to lose them.  Haven’t got any now.”

“No, Doctor.  We believe it is a member of your family.”

“Well, you’d better check your records again,” he growled, “because as you should well know, they’ve been dead since long before the war.”

“You married again.  River Song: a human with Time Lord DNA.  The woman who is responsible for your death at Lake Silencio, Utah, 22 April 2011 Earth time.”

"Psh," he scoffed.  “I got married dozens of times.  Keep on sort of tripping into it.  Ask Liz I— I dare say she’s still cross with me.  You going to pick the one who evidently kills me as the one who’s really my wife?”

“She’s with you right now,” the General said, with sympathy in her voice.  “We know you somehow escaped that fixed point; it’s already in the past in your personal timestream.  More endangering the universe for your personal gain, Doctor.  We appreciate what you’ve done for Gallifrey, but I’m afraid it’s becoming a disturbing trend.” 

“Yes, well, I kept the universe from falling to bits just fine while you lot were having a little 1100 year kip.  Honestly, it’s been a full-time job!”

“We’re not after your wife, Doctor.  We know what happens to her, and we know you do too.”

“Has everyone in the bloody universe got my damn biography?” he grumbled, meeting River’s eyes for the first time.  She gave him a smile that she hoped was encouraging.

“We believe it’s one of your children.”

“As I said.  You can check the Matrix.  That’s where they are.”

“I know this is difficult, Doctor, but you don’t have a choice.  You can’t keep putting yourself and your loved ones over the safety of a planet or a galaxy or the structural integrity of the web of time!  You are a dangerous man, but I believe you are still a good man.  I know you understand sacrifice.  I know you understand what has to be done.”

“Honestly, it’s a lovely, dramatic fantasy you’ve come up with.  Well done.  You should have it published.”

“Doctor—”

“You’ve seen me!  I’m two thousand years old, you think I’ve got swimmers that still go straight?”

The General sighed heavily.  “We will be coming for her.  I’m sorry.”

“Yeah?  When should I expect you for tea, then?  I’ll make some biscuits.  You can have a look at the distinct absence of children.”

“Pre-established time due to your _blatant_ disregard of the First Law dictates that you remain on Darillium until dawn.  Don’t do anything stupid.” 

He scoffed. “You really don’t know me very well, do you?”

“Goodbye, Doctor.”

He put both hands on the console and hung his head. 

River walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing a kiss to his shoulder.  There was really nothing more to say.

 

 

 

 


End file.
